Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Does the Eighth Commandment Protect Those Who Ape a Gay Video?
What About Failing Rock WELS Churches?




Now someone is emulating and naming the Fire Island and MLC videos, associating them with each other. That is a lot of free publicity for a tiny WELS college.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS GA Personality":

What do you think about the eight commandment? There is a whole lot of slander on this blog directed towards WELS, MLC, Called Workers and their families.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Say It Ain't So, Joe - Krohn Rock Group Dumped at ...":

The hatred and slander on this site makes me sick. There is no excuse for this, especially coming from Christian men and women.

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Blake has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

At first I thought this video was fairly immature yet mostly harmless. However, Mr. Jackson, now that I've compared it to your clearly blameless and omnibenevolent soul, it truly disgusts me. Thank you for opening my eyes.

P.S. How about this for comment anonymity?

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I know I'm not wrong since I am a student at MLC, but I do believe MLC stands for Martin Luther College, not Mary Lou College. Some "pious" man you are pointing out the "sins" of others when you yourself are breaking the 8th commandment by bearing false testimony against your neighbor by not taking their actions in the kindest possible way. You are also slandering a man's name by not correctly given him credit as the name holder of a respectable college in the United States. Instead you use your close-mindedness to slander a man's name, and also the reputation of the gentleman in the movie. Who are you to publicly hold false testimony against the gentleman in this movie? I also know that everyone in this video has or have a steady relationship with a member of the OPPOSITE sex. If this video is really the biggest problem we have facing us, then we are surely blessed. But the fact of the matter is that it is not. I do believe you are missing the plank in your own eye but not seeing how your comments and your promotion to negative comments are directly affecting how these young men are seen by people who do not know them personally. Just because you have a problem with the WELS does not give you the divine authority to judge a man's heart or a man's intentions. Perhaps we might construct our time in a better fashion than to read a blog that diminishes the reputations of young men and encourages judgement on others? Just a thought I suppose.

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GJ - I give various institutions a nickname. I have trouble associating the Reformer's name with a blatantly Church Shrinker school, even more so when an atrocious video is uploaded to a world-wide server and students are shocked to find people watching it. Did everyone just fall off the beet wagon before signing up for college?

Why has the college done nothing about it?

Why is the video still playing as of this posting?

The Miley Cyrus video is painfully bad, but innocuous. Has Disney given MLC permission to use her music? There are legal issues which WELS pastors constantly ignore when they offer up their sermons as original when those efforts are nothing more than copies from the false teachers they adore and follow. Names? Parlow. Kelm. Doebler. Ski.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More Cluelessness and WELS Grammar:Girls Just Wann...":

Well, your so-called entertainment has done serious damage to the reputation of these students and MLC in general. I hope it was worth it.

I'm not arguing that it should or should not have damaged these reputations. I am only saying that it did. Think before you act; consider all the possible consequences.<==Good advice for MLS students.



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GJ - Now that is a typical WELS apostate response. Any attempt at correction is met by accusations of a horrible sin being committed - by the innocent. By the way, someone with long-standing WELS credentials pointed out the video to me. He was too disgusted to watch more than one minute of "Party in the MLC.'

I posted the code for the video MLC is still showing. Yes, I know, it is not an official MLC video. To find it on YouTube, search "Party in the MLC." That would strike the average person as an official, approved video from the college.


One defense of the video is--believe it or not--the gay group loved the MLC version, and of course Miley loved the FIP version. But FIP stands for Fire Island Pines - the gay resort where the original Miley satire was filmed. Is that something to brag about?


Don't worry about the hi-larious MLC video being taken down. It can be hosted somewhere else, like the original one here, thanks to New York Magazine.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

I am a current MLC student, and in stereotypical WELS style, I feel the need to place my two mites(<--Bible reference) in the offering plate, if you will. I realize that you will most likely not be swayed by my opinion, but hey, that didn't stop any of you.

Let's do a little review here, the thought is that the students featured in the video are giving the wrong impression of the WELS school of ministry. They created a parody video of a popular youtube video. Alright, we all still on the same page? good.

None of these men are homosexual. I know for a fact that at least more than half of them are currently or have been romantically involved with women. Also, if there was ever a question about their sexual orientation, it would have been handled by now not only by faculty of MLC, but also by the students because we know just as well as anyone that homosexuality is sinful and we know that we are told in the Bible to show our brother his sin.

Like I said before, the video is a parody, like Saturday Night Live. Some of the actors on SNL will impersonate homosexuals by dressing a certain way or giving themselves a lisp. Do people question the sexual orientation of the comedians on that show or others like it? No. This is the same situation. They are a group of blatantly heterosexual men who acted out of character for the sake of humor. Senator(at that time) Barack Obama went on the Late Show with David Letterman and presented the top 10 things he would change if he became president. In typical late night humor style, they were jokes, not real campaign promises he was making. So, just as we look at Barack Obama making jokes about his campaign on late night TV, let's look at the CONTEXT of this video before we make judgments on it. Realize that all of this(both Obama and MLC students) is relative humor, it's only funny because you know what the actors are like on a every-day basis and when they act out of character, it is funny.

In addition, you have to know the culture of MLC, or the average college in general. I will go out on a limb and assume that most of the people commenting on this blog are not of college age. That being said, most of you do not know what is considered funny or "cool" at MLC currently, so let's look at the culture of MLC.

Like I said before, Homosexuality is in no way condoned at MLC by students or faculty. But homosexuality is joked about because it is not even close to a possibility. In the same way we brush off comments like "We're gonna kill them" said by athletes, MLC students think of someone calling them "gay" or a "fag" as something so impossible that it does not bother them. Just like we know that LeBron James is not going to go out on the court and murder someone, we know as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ that if we are at MLC, homosexuality is most likely not a problem for us. And we know that we are not giving offense to anyone because they are not homosexual.

An Intelligent Comment--Oh, Oh--From Mankato

C.C.Baxter has left a new comment on your post "Does the Eighth Commandment Protect Those Who Ape ...":

context doesn't matter to the 13 year old who clicks and views "Party in the MLC". If that's their only viewpoint of what MLC is and stands for, which it probably would be, then that's bad. Fun video, but only for inner circles. We in the loop know they're not gay. It's the public that views it (and who certainly won't bother with context) that doesn't know.

As said before, there is one thing I whole-heartedly agree with: it being on youtube is a major step backward after Schroeder took on ELCA's homosexuality endorsement.

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GJ - No one ever said the kids were a bunch of sodomites. The issue is - why would they take the time to imitate a famously gay video? Does that prove they are cool anti-Pietists?

More comments are arriving, taking issue with me. I am on trial now - typical WELS turnabout.

Another question to ask - is there any supervision at Mary Lou College? This video competition seems to have no rules, since the children involved posted their work to YouTube and left it there - 60,000 views, 80,000 views, and counting. If they had criticized the Shrinker movement in WELS, the video would have been de-rezzed in five minutes.



More Cluelessness and WELS Grammar:
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun






Jake Gawel has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

If you have ever seen a Will Ferrell movie where he takes his shirt off, you should go pray the Rosary and ask the Lord and Mary to forgive your sins of homosexuality. If you can not see that this is an obvious social commentary and spoof to be taken lightly then you should not carry the right to vote in the US. There was no more nudity here than one would find at a public pool. Yes, these are indeed potential future called worker,(sic) but should they be punished for making a video where they imitate female celebrities and lip-sync? No. Anyone who has a problem with this video due to its relation to MLC needs to take a step back and realize that the motive was not evil. For the people who say they wouldn't want these young men as their pastors, I question how well you know them personally and how you can be a judge of their faith or character because they dressed up for fun. Thanks.
[Step One - Play the video as the WELS Connection.
Step Two - Pass the hat.
Any questions?]

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MLC Student has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

I've read every comment on this page and I have to say that many of them are highly insulting. I agree that the young men in the video were foolish for making this video and posting it. They committed a sin of offense and they should know better than that. They did not however, deliberately set out to hurt anyone.

Moreover, lumping every MLC student into the same category is ludicrous. Saying that "the academic focus is about as diverse as the House of Habsburg's DNA; the scholarly authenticity is a about as noble as a McDonald's Happy Meal." is insulting. MLC is a highly specialized school, yes, but because of that specialization, our focus is narrower and we learn more. Being an 'A' student isn't the easiest task in the world. We have to study and apply ourselves. We have some very tough classes.

Also, criticizing our Professors is below the belt. We have very knowledgeable, wise Professors. They dedicate a good portion of their lives to educating us in the best way that they can. Most of our professors go above and beyond what is expected of them. They are amazing men and women who work hard to help us transform from crazy, irresponsible kids into ministers of the gospel so that we can serve our future students and congregations as well as they have served us.

Lastly, we're college students. We can't study every moment of every day. We need a break every once in awhile. Any psychologist will confirm that having no 'play' time is bad for a person. All MLC students do not make foolish mistakes, but when we do so, we are only human. The law definitely should be used, but the law should be followed by the gospel. I am an MLC student who truly appreciates the education that she gets at MLC and who truly appreciates the lessons that she learns here. I am well educated, well prepared for my future ministry, and I will be a good teacher. Please think carefully before any of you discredit or slander MLC, our Professors, or the student body. The actions of a few do not dictate the actions of the whole.

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Valerie Grundmeier has left a new comment on your post "MLC Video Comment - But Wait - Does Everyone Know ...":


I really enjoyed watching the "Party in the MLC" video, knowing that these boys created it for MLC students to watch. They then posted it on YouTube for their friends that couldn't be at the talent show that night, and their moms. ("Look, mom, how silly we are!") Those select few were their intended audience. If you aren't one of those people, you were never meant to see it.


For that reason, it is a shame that they posted it on YouTube for the whole world to see. They never expected that the whole world would! I do know that they intend to take it off YouTube shortly. Hopefully they will post it on Facebook, because it is a funny video. But they need to restrict the audience to their friends, fellow students, and family. After all, that audience is the only one which understands these boys and their beliefs (including recognizing homosexuality as a sin)! The comments on your blog posts have proven that all too well.


As for comments you have received which contain spelling errors and bad language, that is also a shame. Yet chances are I agree with some of those sentiments.


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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Say It Ain't So, Joe - Krohn Rock Group Dumped at ...":

Sir,
I'm not sure how to feel after visiting your site. It doesn't add up to me. You can't really believe that the majority of your posts are not sinful. You tear down young men who are preparing themselves for ministry because they are dancing and singing to a song, yet it is okay for you to paste pictures of our brothers' in Christ heads on the body of cartoons? Clearly that is not glorifying our Lord and Savior. You put pictures of people's families up on your website and mock them and slander their name.



Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it ALL to the glory of God.

ALL sir, even your blog. I get you disagree, but surely there is a God-pleasing way to go about this.

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GJ - At least I put my name on my messages.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

Now, with those last two paragraphs already on the page, let's realize that it all goes back to what I said about relative humor. I can almost guarantee that those guys did not sit down with the intention of making fun of homosexuals or to "come out of the closet," but simply to provide the MLC student body with entertainment.

Alright, I'm almost done, but I wanted to let you in on some secrets... In talking with schoolmates the general consensus is "Why do all these people so uptight about this stuff?" Listen people, I don't know what you're trying to prove, but you aren't changing the humor at MLC. I will still walk into my room, see my roommate changing, and say something to the effect of "hey, sexy" to which he will probably respond, "shut up, queer." And then we will laugh and GO ON WITH OUR LIVES!! My next door neighbor will still walk with just short shorts and huge jersey on into a room of guys watching Monday Night Football and get a laugh. I'm not going to go to my basketball coach tonight and say "Coach, I don't feel comfortable playing physical defense or posting up because the guys might think I'm gay." Don't get me wrong, it's great that you care, but just let us deal with our own problems. I assure you that these guys are not gay, and that they did what they did purely for humor that was based on MLC's culture.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go snuggle with my girlfriend... and don't worry, I checked, she's definitely a girl.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "MLC Video Comment - But Wait - Does Everyone Know ...":

And this video looks like they made it for the same reason you write this blog- in the name of satire! The only difference is you think this blog is funny and the video is not because it was done by students at a school you don't like.

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GJ - I like MLC but I cannot figure out students who are so slow that they upload a video for all the world to watch and complain about the results of their kelming, artistic dishonesty, and aping of sodomy. They can parlow all day long, but the readers--loud and proud straights--have spoken.

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Whosit5Casie has left a new comment on your post "Mary Lou College's Own Flock of Seagulls--or--Girl...":

My name is Casie and i'm 19 and I don't go to MLC. Some of my friends do though...

I am WELS...and this entire thing made me laugh. it's all so typically WELS. the crazy kids' antics, the adults' overreaction to prove a point, the kids' friends' counter reaction...and what has been solved? nothing. i'm sure the blog's author doesn't give a crap what his opposition has said, and i'm sure that the kids will NEVER understand why he thinks it's such a big deal (i know i don't get it).

i think you should all stop throwing the Bible at each other (obviously you can find the passage you need to refute the other guy-we get it) and just act like the logical, intelligent Christians you are. or should be. whichever you prefer.

by the way...if you can't attach your name to a comment that you make here, you're not helping, because anonymity breeds hostility in the blogosphere and hostility is what we DON'T want in this conversation.

also, as an afterthought, a question for mr. blog man: what did you think would happen when you posted this? and how do you think the publicity is affecting the guys in the vid? lol, i'm sure they're not all lamenting the fact...they probably think this whole thing is funny too. just sayin'

hope every has a great night! :)

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GJ - The MLC video is a totally awesome portrait of the Shrinker mindset. The Shrinkers first see something wildly popular, cool, and cutting edge. That makes them loathe the restrictions binding them so cruelly. So - they imitate what they envy, down to the smallest detail. Then their friends begin to attack anyone who dissents from their cloning attempt, excusing it as creative, out-of-the-box, reaching out, and exactly what WELS needs. But that is not enough. The friends also have to attack anyone who dares to question the latest copycat effort.

Legal liability question: did the kids obtain written permission from Disney to steal music protected by law? Did they consider MLC's liability for their theft?
Did their doting parents ask their erring children about drawing WELS into a potential lawsuit?

WELS athletes are absolved before, during, and after each incident. When Thundershorts was dean of NWC, there were two sets one rules: one for the athletes, another for everyone else. Nothing is different today. That is why WELS athletes end up in such scrapes. Like the professional athletes they can never be, they never imagine the consequences of their actions.

GA - Lives!
Tolja, Tolja, Tolja



Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS GA Personality":

It is absolutely true that GA still goes on underground, conducted by a few select Seniors against a few select Juniors [first year students]. Those Juniors are then instructed to select a few worthy candidates when they are seniors and to carry on the tradition underground, on a smaller scale. It is now in the deep shadows, and much smaller...but GA lives. I know. I saw it. Three years ago. I was there.

The "genius" of this system is that 90% of seminary students are left thinking that GA is in fact dead, because they are left out of it. So, 90% of recent graduates could say, without failing a lie detector test, "GA is dead." But they're just ignorant. It lives.

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GJ - Habitual liars are going to stop? No, GA is based on deception so the falsehoods continue.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Clueless Anonymous Comments Are Still Posted - Lik...":

The spirit of GA is strong in the commenter who wrote that someone might not attend seminary because they are "fraid of being hazed." That's the standard line given by the pro-GA hazing crowd--that those who opt out of GA are weenies. It's similar to line about how those who don't like CG are lazy pastors not interested in outreach.

Others went to Bethany or another seminary not because they were scared, but because who'd want to join, or keep being a member of, an outfit that condoned and excused such inane practices that detracted from college and seminary education?

Elvis Dave Kehl Has Left the Building




Dave Kehl is no longer employed at The Love Shack. I heard he was going to Atonement. He was recently listed as having the new Adult/Youth discipleship call, so I am confused. Corrections are welcome.

Kehl was connected with the expensive Airport meeting, an orgy of Shrinker ideology. I wanted to back up my facts, as I always do, but that link on the WELS.net site is gone.

This just in...



The WELS AnswerMan is being replaced. That was my favorite springboard before WELS elected SP Schroeder and ruined the fun. AnswerMan was known for ridiculous responses and bad spelling.

Some DPs wanted AnswerMan banished earlier, but the State of Wisconsin DPs wanted the feature kept. You are wondering why, so I will tell you. AnswerMan favored the Shrinkers, so the Big Three liked having a backdoor response that countered sound Lutheran doctrine and practice.

AnswerMan came across as official WELS doctrine, so a Shrinker pastor could whip out the favorable responses and say, "Holy Mother WELS has spoken. Nyahh."

My intuition is that Father Hollywood's Girls Gone Wild column was the last straw.

One Shrinker is endlessly offended that Father Hollywood alluded to Monty Python, although the Shrinker seems to know his Python much better than most people. But the same person was not offended by women pretending to be pastors. Father Hollywood was appalled by the lame excuses posted by AnswerMan.

As the golden sun sinks slowly into White Fish Bay, we bid a fond adieu to AnswerMan, source of mirth and befuddlement.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Elvis Dave Kehl Has Left the Building":

Palace intrigue at the Love Shack continues unabated. The AnswerMan never could reign (sic) it in with his official WELS doctrine.


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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Elvis Dave Kehl Has Left the Building":

According to the latest call report, Dave Kehl accepted the call to Atonement and returned the call to serve as Adult/Youth Discipleship coordinator.

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GJ - Kehl was deep into the Shrinker agenda. I will not quote another source, who said...

Not gonna do it.

Say It Ain't So, Joe - Krohn Rock Group Dumped at Christ the Rock Lutheran Church in Round Rock, Texas






Doebler's full-time assistant is no longer listed. Why do the Shrinker missions have full-time female assistants?


The famous Black Sox scandal has been remembered with a boy running up to Shoeless Jackson, saying tearfully, "Say it ain't so, Joe."

Now I hear from my vast network of informants that Joe Krohn's Rock N Roll group has been dumped from Rock N Roll Church. Why? His good buddy Kudu Don Patterson told Doebler to get better results. In spite of all the insights from Church and Change, plagiarized sermons, and grants from various places, Rock N Roll has only 30 attending church.

The Church from Scratch, now known as Rock and Roll, has obtained the services of Dave Bauer, Martin Luther College, to make the contemporary services even more contemptuous, or is that contemporary?

Bauer has been working with Pastor Rick in Corona, California. Pastor Rick is very big on Church and Change, Leonard Sweet. Not so big on Ichabod.

They still use the URL of http://www.churchfromscratch.net. Put that in your browser and you will get Christ the Rock. Old Scratch is a nickname for Satan. In modern lingo, scratch is money. Both are fitting, because this latest experiment is dependent on scratch - synod subsidies and foundation grants. They wanted $200,000 from the Antioch Foundation this year and got a measly $20,000.

Check out the Rock N Roll websty. Here are some clues:

Vision, Purpose, Process, and Values - "Centered on Christ, Living with Purpose." Doebler is probably influenced by Rick Warren and Purpose-Driven Pietism. The Pietists are always anxious to produce results in people through their cell groups.

Old Scratch has cell groups. The vision is pure Pietism. There is a little tilt toward Lutheran doctrine, but Doebler uses Word, Baptism, and "Holy Supper." The Reformed can tolerate the word baptism but they are allergic to Holy Communion. Best not offend those who deny the Real Presence.

The Conference of Pussycats met at Patterson's church to confirm the value and orthodoxy of Rock N Roll.  That is like the Federal Reserve folks meeting at Goldman Sachs to make sure everything is honest and above board.

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JR has left a new comment on your post "Say It Ain't So, Joe - Krohn Rock Group Dumped at ...":

Allow me to speak in C&C terms: the product offered by Pastor Doebler is not selling. The same message of self-improvement can be had at any number of other mega-churches in the area that have bigger buildings, better music, and more programs. There needs to be a differentiating factor that compels people to go to CTR instead of Hyde Park or Shoreline.

Here's an idea: try preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments. It's so crazy it just might work!


Clueless Anonymous Comments Are Still Posted - Like These



Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "MLC Video Comment - But Wait - Does Everyone Know ...":

I find it interesting that you choose only to post those blog comments that only correlate your opinion. [GJ - Could you get a third only into this sentence?] Why not post all blog comments on the page in plain view for everyone to see? [GJ - Obscenities and cursing too?]

Also where has our sense of humor gone? Are we all suppose to be staunch German robots set in our ways? Last time I checked it's hard to reach out to non-Christians when you have a "better than thou" attitude. Congrats to these young men for having some fun and letting people see their fun side.


I can only think that this will make it that much easier for children and teens to approach them when they become pastors and teachers. The children won't view them only as stuck up, snobby pastors and teachers who are unapproachable. Instead this will keep these young men down to earth and in touch with the one thing the WELS needs to continue, the younger generation.

[GJ - Ye shall know them by their fruits.]

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "MLC Video Comment - But Wait - Does Everyone Know ...":

So wait, this guy thinks it's okay to like Monty Python, but not a Youtube video featuring a mockery of another Youtube video, of which there are thousands online? He didn't even do his initial research to find out that the video was inspired by the Party in the FIP video. This blog, and the people responding to its completely outrageous claims are nothing more than a bunch of gossiping old grannies. And gossip is a sin, in case you didn't know.

[GJ - Sodom and Gomorrah were full of gossip columnists sporting leather pants, spikey hair, and earrings - the real sin of Genesis 19.]

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Anonymous
has left a new comment on your post "WELS GA Personality":

There really isn't GA at the seminary anymore. It was over at least 5 years ago. The administration was (rightfully) afraid of a lawsuit. The dean of students, at least in years past, addressed the seniors and explained that seriously, really, not a joke, they can't have GA, because it could lead to a lawsuit. It's kind of funny that GA is so ingrained in their minds that he has to be emphatic that he is not kidding. [GJ - Even stranger is his argument based on fearing a lawsuit. A better statement would be - GA was wrong, stupid, dishonest, sadistic, anti-Christian, and against the spirit of any seminary. But that would have offended James Paul Tiefel, former GA pope, who got GA going again when students did cancel it.]

It's been replaced by a new activity with a German name, which I can't recall at the moment. They still pretend that something is going to happen. For the first few weeks, the seniors and middlers don't talk to the juniors in the cafeteria, but that is as bad as it gets. A few weeks into school, the juniors are told to come to the dorm basement on a Thursday night. There is a speech about what used to happen in GA. It ends along the lines of, "but we can't do that anymore. Oh, it's time to go." A line of cars is waiting to drive the juniors to a mystery destination... for a moment they wonder what will happen... then they pull up to a local bar. They skip the chasing, swimming, or whatever used to happen, and instead go straight to drinking, the merits of which I reserve for the reader to judge. [GJ - I am not going to assume this is true, just because someone posted it. If it is, the seminary is still begging for a lawsuit, for felony stupidity, not to mention other legal vulnerabilities.]

The secret isn't tightly kept. Some students inform their friends in advance (I was warned by someone who knew I might not attend otherwise), but let the the more enthusiastic have their fun and pretend to be surprised. Then Friday afternoon there is a quirky-but-harmless scavenger-hunt type activity in the Milwaukee area, followed by a pig roast, a devotion, and a party with skits in the basement. There aren't negative consequences if you skip out. It's admittedly unusual for a seminary, but an improvement over GA.

Pastor Jackson, I understand your suspicion. Given the secretive nature of GA and the animosity of some towards you and your blog, I would be suspicious as well. I agree 100% with your assessment of GA. But please don't report that GA continues. They really have stopped. I feel bad about spoiling the fun for future classes, but I would hate to see a qualified young man shy away from WLS because he is afraid of being hazed. And that's what might happen if he stumbles across your blog. If he is worried about GA, he should call seminary president Wendland (whose phone number is available at the seminary website) and ask him about it. I'm sure he will be open about initiation with any concerned layperson or prospective student. WLS is the synod's school after all, so all WELS members have a right to know what's going on there. But GA has been over a while. Most WELS pastors have been through it, but each year that percentage will be smaller. I think it would be helpful for everyone if the rumors were finally put to rest. Yes, it was inappropriate and harmful, but the seminary has repented, in a manner of speaking; it's over now and time to move on. [GJ - Godly contrition is required - not "moving on."]

***

GJ - I repeated the claim that GA is over. However, I was also told otherwise, so I mentioned that as well. The spirit of GA permeates the Shrinker sub-class. Witness the decades old lie that there is no Church Growth Movement in WELS.

Someone perceptively wrote: "I think IJ Reily's comment about the severity of hazing is quite perceptive....

The bad thing is that the severity of hazing (at least in years gone by) can linger for many years. After all, you are only 13 or 14 years old when you are living away from home for extended time periods. While still a WELS member in "good standing", I will always be mistrustful of giving the WELS my unqualified devotion, support, or confidence.

I always thought these traditions developed and continued to exist in WELS prep schools for several reasons. One reason is as follows:

Imagine a family has 3 kids and 2 parents. The ratio of supervision is 2 to 3, or 66 percent

Now imagine a dorm full of minors, numbering about 140. Imagine there are only 2 or 3 tutors residing in that dorm. The ratio of supervision is now only 3 to 140, or 2 percent.

Quite a difference !!!

So, much like prisons have used the "trustee system" in which certain prisoners are given authority within the prison system, upperclassman are given (or were given) certain authority over the underclassmen.

Unfortunately, abuse in such a situation can often creep in. Few 16, 17 or 18 year olds have the maturity of using power wisely.

Here's a thought to keep you awake at night. Imagine if WELS had boarding school for middle school (6th through 8th grade) students!!!!

William Golding's "LORD OF THE FLIES" comes to mind."

Oversight by older students is a common feature of boarding schools. How this is handled is another question. 

I do post foolish comments from time to time. The Shrinkers started their own anonymous blogs but could not keep them going, for some reason. Ichabod is not a free ride for anyone with some free time and public library access. When the nastiest ones got their own blog going for a few weeks, they only published congratulatory comments from Shrinkers Tim Felt-needs and Joe Krohn, who were the only followers. They even eliminated a link to Thy Strong Word from a comment on the topic of UOJ! So they hauled out the Synodical Conference boilerplate claims about UOJ as their proof but would not link a scholarly book where all those claims were matched with the Scriptural and Confessional repudiation of forgiveness without faith.

UOJ is not only a product of Pietism. UOJ is also closely associated with anti-nomianism, lawless legalism, an obvious component of the old Synodical Conference and still in evidence today.

I want to add that some of the warmest, most Gospel-centered people I have known are WELS, pastors and laity alike. I realize people are struggling to overcome the errors of the past. For that reason I am glad to provide a podium for those people.

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Fire Island Pines Video Inspires Future WELS Pastors


Party in the Fire Island Pines Video that inspired the MLC video.


Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Miley Cyrus in concert in Los Angeles.

Who says the Walt Disney Company doesn’t have a sense of humor?
Perhaps no star is more important to the media giant these days than Miley Cyrus, the 16-year-old “Hannah Montana” actress who also delivers hit movies, merchandising lines and albums. The already protective company is überprotective of her.

So when a video popped up on YouTube on Monday – depicting seven gay men in speedos cavorting on a beach to “Party in the USA,” Ms. Cyrus’s new single – Disney’s blood could easily have boiled. The upbeat video is G-rated, but a tad on the flamboyant side (writhing on the sand, a pool-dancing sequence).

“I assumed it would be taken down pretty much immediately, particularly because of the music rights issue,” said David Fudge, a 27-year-old marketing executive at Esquire who made the video, titled “Party in the Fire Island Pines.”

But Disney left the ditty alone and it soon exploded in an underground way, collecting 200,000 views in just three days. Disney employees started e-mailing it to each other, and before long Mr. Fudge’s office telephone rang. On the other end: Rich Ross, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide.
“I was like, who?” Mr. Fudge said. “He just said that he loved it and wanted to tell us that. He was extremely nice.”

Mr. Ross declined to comment, but another Disney executive noted that the video (and the reaction to it) demonstrated how Ms. Cyrus was broadening her fan base beyond little girls. Moreover, at a time of declining CD sales, even a teen queen like Ms. Cyrus needs all the attention for her songs that she can get. Her new album, “The Time of Our Lives,” arrives in Wal-Mart stores on Monday.
Ms. Cyrus herself is apparently a fan of Mr. Fudge’s work. Earlier this week, she wrote on Twitter: “I am OBSESSED with this video! Let’s make one!”

[GJ - Thanks to this video, Miley has moved her fan base from little princesses to young queens.]